BETHEL – Selectmen agreed Monday to hire a South Paris firm to build a town swimming pond, parking lot and fencing for $154,745.

The catch, however, is that the public can’t use the facility Bethel voters have helped fund until the complex has been fully developed.

The job could be done next year pending the donation of $80,000, said Selectman Don Bennett, who is also the project coordinator.

“That’s a bad way to end up with a hole and a parking lot and a permanent fence if the $80,000 is not forthcoming,” said Selectmen Chairman Harry Dresser Jr. “It’s pretty clear in the realm of fund-raising, that once you build something, no one has any interest in it.”

But, he added, people are more than willing to give money toward projects that have yet to be built.

“I’m curious to see what happens if you get it half built. I don’t want to have to go back to the voters to bail it out,” Dresser said.

The dilemma was broached after Town Manager Scott Cole tallied construction costs after Bancroft Contracting Corp. made the sole bid for the project.

Cole’s math revealed there would be a $45,000 deficit should the project be finished this fall. Selectmen then decided to spend $155,000 of the $163,000 it has designated for the project to construct everything except a bridge and changing facility this fall.

“It’s in the town’s best interest and it’s a responsible use of the money which the town has at hand,” Cole said.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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